WEBVTT 00:45.830 --> 00:46.731 Good evening, everyone. 00:48.312 --> 00:50.094 Welcome to our live broadcast. 01:05.330 --> 01:11.736 Today we're looking at the Pasuihara Sutta. 01:17.825 --> 01:18.988 Pasu vihara. 01:19.088 --> 01:19.809 Pasu. 01:21.252 --> 01:24.359 I put the title of this one as harmony, but that's not quite what it is. 01:26.664 --> 01:27.586 Pasu vihara. 01:27.626 --> 01:28.929 Vihara, we know this word. 01:28.969 --> 01:30.352 It means the dwelling. 01:30.392 --> 01:34.040 So vihara means dwelling. 01:34.080 --> 01:36.205 It could be a place or it could be a state. 01:37.737 --> 01:43.144 When you dwell in some, when you live in a certain way, that's called a vihara. 01:43.164 --> 01:46.108 When you live in a certain place, the place is called a vihara. 01:47.370 --> 01:56.783 Vihara means if it's a place where you live or a living, a way of living or a place of living. 01:59.186 --> 01:59.887 Pasu. 01:59.907 --> 02:05.955 Pasu means comfortable or at ease. 02:07.403 --> 02:16.968 And it's used, I don't know if it's used in other ways, but in the Dhamma it's most often used to refer to a community that lives in ease. 02:18.252 --> 02:23.185 And so it's a quality of a community that is harmonious. 02:24.785 --> 02:27.349 So this is the idea of harmony. 02:28.010 --> 02:29.232 It involves the idea of harmony. 02:29.292 --> 02:36.082 Now, we're going to see these five again, I think, in the Anguttara Nikaya Book of Sixes. 02:37.304 --> 02:42.051 I know they're elsewhere, but I'm assuming they're also in the Book of Sixes. 02:44.292 --> 03:12.291 it's going to add one so we'll revisit these and we'll add one more quality but these are the five qualities and it's given a different name but it's the same sort of idea so the idea here is that these five are ways of dwelling with living with other people living at ease in a community with relations 03:13.840 --> 03:21.956 And a way of living with other people at ease, at ease with others and having healthy relationships. 03:23.078 --> 03:24.140 That's really what it's all about. 03:26.364 --> 03:35.241 And so one way of looking at this as a way to create communal harmony, create harmony in the community. 03:37.195 --> 03:39.119 And that's a good way of looking at it. 03:39.199 --> 03:52.444 It's important that we are mindful of our place in the community and our place with other people, our roles and our attitudes and our involvement with others. 03:53.205 --> 03:54.107 Let it be healthy. 03:55.640 --> 04:00.049 That we cultivate wholesomeness. 04:00.069 --> 04:11.792 Because relationships can be an incredible boon, support for the spiritual life, but they can of course also be a real drag on the spiritual life. 04:13.645 --> 04:27.165 So the last thing you want is to get stuck in a situation where you're with people who are dragging you down, who are preventing you from cultivating wholesome qualities because life is short. 04:28.687 --> 04:42.167 And we want to make the best of it, the most of it, before we have to leave, have to slough off this mortal coil, something like that. 04:47.547 --> 04:51.331 So we have to be mindful of our living situation. 04:52.152 --> 04:55.196 Living at ease is an important quality. 04:56.157 --> 05:03.986 You don't want to be worried about your living situation because it takes energy away from your practice. 05:04.006 --> 05:16.381 So the other way of looking at these is as a means of determining whether a community or a situation is beneficial for your practice. 05:16.681 --> 05:17.402 Sometimes 05:18.850 --> 05:20.593 Sometimes leaving is preferable. 05:21.955 --> 05:28.346 Sometimes even the Buddha, the monks were fighting the Buddha up and left. 05:28.366 --> 05:29.308 He tried to talk to them. 05:30.630 --> 05:35.779 They wouldn't listen, so he just left. 05:38.678 --> 05:47.151 Sometimes you have to see to your own welfare. 05:47.732 --> 05:53.762 If you want to help others, even if you want to help others, you yourself have to be well. 05:55.565 --> 05:59.511 You yourself have to be comfortable. 05:59.892 --> 06:01.294 If you're in a situation that 06:04.835 --> 06:08.180 I was talking to someone this morning about this, and here's how I put it. 06:13.066 --> 06:21.558 If you're living in a situation that is painful, if there's a lot of suffering in your living situation, that's not a problem in Buddhism. 06:23.100 --> 06:29.789 Those of us who have taken up meditation can understand this, that pain isn't really a problem. 06:32.052 --> 06:34.015 Even hard work isn't really a problem. 06:36.307 --> 06:45.835 It can be problematic as it taxes your energy and so on, but it's not a reason necessarily to leave. 06:45.895 --> 06:51.761 But if you're in a situation with evil, evil and suffering are two very different things. 06:52.701 --> 07:05.993 So evil means if you're in a situation with other people who are abusive or immoral, alcoholics, drug addicts, 07:07.913 --> 07:10.881 This isn't just suffering anymore. 07:11.523 --> 07:13.689 So you say, well, I suffer with it or I live with it. 07:13.749 --> 07:18.261 But when you're with other people who are engaging in evil deeds, it's more than just suffering. 07:20.975 --> 07:25.621 you may not engage in the same activities that they do. 07:26.722 --> 07:28.965 But evil cultivates evil nonetheless. 07:29.105 --> 07:36.834 So when a person is, say, a drug addict or an alcoholic, so you may not engage in drugs and alcohol with them. 07:36.854 --> 07:39.157 You say, well, I'm not doing it so I can live with them. 07:40.258 --> 07:42.902 But you see, the problem with these things is it makes them unmindful. 07:43.002 --> 07:47.387 So they will behave in ways and speak in ways that are... 07:47.367 --> 07:53.035 that will instigate defilements in you. 07:53.055 --> 08:00.927 You'll get frustrated with them, you'll get upset at them, you'll get stressed, you'll get worried, you'll get afraid, which are all evil. 08:01.648 --> 08:02.970 Those are all other types of evil. 08:02.990 --> 08:08.498 They're evil in the sense that they cause suffering and they cultivate into bad habits. 08:08.478 --> 08:23.162 They become causes for you to do evil things, to do bad things, maybe not take drugs or alcohol, but to say bad things to others, to do bad things, to do things that you'll regret. 08:24.544 --> 08:24.805 Evil. 08:26.067 --> 08:27.289 Evil can only come of evil. 08:28.952 --> 08:30.975 The only thing that can come of evil is more evil. 08:33.807 --> 08:39.613 So in those cases it's often better to find another living situation. 08:40.714 --> 08:51.645 If you can't move these people to change their ways, then it's not just a matter of bearing with it. 08:52.466 --> 09:00.034 It's not like bearing with insects or bearing with heat or cold or pain or sickness. 09:01.465 --> 09:05.170 Bearing with evil is much different. 09:05.290 --> 09:12.200 Evil because of how it affects you, but also because of it not being a good situation. 09:12.220 --> 09:21.112 If you stay in a living situation where others are constantly engaged in evil, you're a part of it. 09:22.755 --> 09:27.962 Your staying is a support for them to keep doing what they're doing. 09:29.377 --> 09:35.651 If they're abusive towards you or unpleasant towards you, then you're just helping them. 09:35.691 --> 09:38.798 You're involved in it. 09:42.186 --> 09:46.255 So you can stay completely mindful if you're an arahant and 09:47.382 --> 09:59.497 not to be affected by it, but we have stories of Arahants when they found there was this Arahant who realized the monk who he was living with was very jealous of him, so he just up and left. 10:01.119 --> 10:02.281 It's a good story actually. 10:02.341 --> 10:11.112 This monk was afraid that this new monk looked so spiritually advanced that he was afraid he was going to lose his 10:12.087 --> 10:41.284 standing in this village because everyone respected him and he got very jealous and greedy and so he threw out this monk's food in the morning he said okay I'll ring the bell when we go for alms and in the morning he tapped the bell with his fingernail and then he went into the village and the villager said where's that other monk that just came to visit and he said oh I don't know I rang the bell and he didn't come he must be sleeping in 10:43.525 --> 11:09.516 and uh... so they said oh well we'll give you two we'll give you two portions of food then bring one back for him and so he ate the first portion and then they gave him a second portion to bring back and he looked at the food and he said this is really good food if he sees this he won't want to go anywhere and i can't have this monk staying here so he actually dumped out this other monk's food 11:11.555 --> 11:40.819 and did a terrible deed as a result in the Arahant the Arahant in the morning got a sense of what was going on and he just left just walked out so that's there's definitely I mean because people will say well as Buddhists you have to just bear with it be patient with it but patience with evil is a touch and go thing it's not something you should stick with even if you're an Arahant 11:43.347 --> 11:45.290 Of course, if you're an arhanta, I wouldn't have to tell you that. 11:46.331 --> 11:50.036 It's a great wisdom and understanding about right and wrong. 11:50.917 --> 11:53.861 Okay, without further ado, let's get into what are these five things. 11:53.921 --> 11:54.422 What do you need? 11:57.626 --> 11:59.148 The first three are simple. 12:00.410 --> 12:01.591 So we have the Pali. 12:01.612 --> 12:10.924 idabhikavibhikuno metangkayakamangpacupatitanghotih sabrammacharisu avicevarahocha 12:13.182 --> 12:16.967 Does that mean here monks, by a monk? 12:20.371 --> 12:21.212 No, not by a monk. 12:21.332 --> 12:21.973 By a monk. 12:24.636 --> 12:26.078 Mettaṃ kāyaka maṃ. 12:30.924 --> 12:39.595 The bodily acts of metta are established. 12:41.380 --> 12:45.325 That's not it. 12:48.349 --> 12:56.841 By that monk, bodily activity maybe is established with loving kindness. 12:59.524 --> 13:02.228 Abhikku maintains bodily acts of loving kindness. 13:02.749 --> 13:03.430 It works as well. 13:03.650 --> 13:04.932 Vikabodhi makes it active. 13:07.155 --> 13:10.459 Towards his fellow, his or her fellow 13:11.705 --> 13:14.469 practitioners in the spiritual life. 13:14.489 --> 13:21.739 Brahmachari is the holy life. 13:22.860 --> 13:28.528 And some Brahmachari is those who are living the holy life together with one. 13:28.889 --> 13:33.475 In public and in private. 13:36.239 --> 13:37.240 So what does this mean? 13:38.030 --> 13:44.160 It means the things you do, you act out of love, both to their face and behind their back. 13:45.762 --> 13:50.349 You don't smile to their face and then stab them in the back. 13:53.234 --> 14:01.607 And likewise with speech, wajikamang and manukamang, metangkamangpacupatitanghunti. 14:03.038 --> 14:20.677 In public and in private, your speech towards that person and about that person and your thoughts when with that person and your thoughts when without that person should be filled with love, with friendliness. 14:22.879 --> 14:24.321 Metta really means friendliness. 14:25.242 --> 14:30.868 You should have a friendly, kind behavior, kind attitude, kind speech. 14:34.223 --> 14:35.025 Quite simple, no? 14:35.367 --> 14:36.289 Metta is the key. 14:37.533 --> 14:39.780 Metta is a big part of communal harmony. 14:41.205 --> 14:42.308 Metta can change. 14:43.131 --> 14:46.461 Friendliness can change a situation, which is why 14:47.960 --> 14:56.952 It's a power that meditators have, the ability to change your mind, and the power to say, I'm going to change my attitude. 14:58.414 --> 15:02.760 Because you have a sort of a presence of mind, and a centeredness, a balance. 15:03.942 --> 15:10.210 Through the practice of mindfulness, things like friendliness come easy, and you can actually consciously cultivate it. 15:11.172 --> 15:14.997 You can say, look, I have anger towards this person, but that's just my anger. 15:14.977 --> 15:17.864 If I cultivate love, that will change. 15:19.107 --> 15:23.418 So you cultivate it with your actions, speech and thoughts. 15:23.678 --> 15:32.901 When you sit down and meditate, you take some time out of your insight meditation to send good thoughts to the people you live with. 15:37.589 --> 15:39.231 That's one, two and three. 15:39.291 --> 15:46.440 Number four and five are different and they're equally important. 15:46.860 --> 15:58.855 It's important that we get this straight. 15:59.965 --> 16:02.068 Lots of synonyms here. 16:02.088 --> 16:12.181 It's a description of sila. 16:12.842 --> 16:21.553 So one dwells in common. 16:21.573 --> 16:24.156 Where's the tatarubesu? 16:24.957 --> 16:29.263 tatarubesu silehi sila samanyagato viharat 16:31.977 --> 16:34.461 Silasamanyagato is an interesting word. 16:34.721 --> 16:39.287 I had an interesting encounter with this word. 16:39.328 --> 16:58.575 I was in a community where I began to keep a precept that the other monks in the community were not keeping. 16:58.792 --> 16:59.473 That's not true. 16:59.573 --> 17:05.200 I had gone elsewhere and I had come to this community and it turned out that I kept a rule that they didn't keep. 17:06.562 --> 17:08.003 And so they had a meeting about it. 17:10.346 --> 17:11.107 Not directly. 17:11.227 --> 17:13.090 Everything in Thailand is all indirectly. 17:13.110 --> 17:15.453 So no one ever called me out on it. 17:16.454 --> 17:19.197 But they had a meeting to talk about harmony. 17:20.859 --> 17:23.162 And one of the monks says, yes, well, we need to have 17:24.610 --> 17:29.497 sila samanyata is the word they use. 17:29.517 --> 17:33.163 Samanyata means similarity. 17:35.005 --> 17:36.207 And so they quoted this teaching. 17:36.447 --> 17:42.036 This is the very teaching, or probably they took the six-fold version, the six-part version. 17:42.616 --> 17:53.993 But they pulled out this one point and said, so if we're all keeping the precepts in a certain way, then everyone has to keep them that way. 17:57.348 --> 18:11.071 I didn't get a chance, because there was never any point where I was called out, but it felt quite clear that it was because I had gotten some heat for doing this. 18:14.437 --> 18:17.702 But I bring it up because I want to be clear about what this means. 18:19.117 --> 18:24.586 This doesn't mean that you have to match your behavior to those around you. 18:25.087 --> 18:26.829 And that's where all these adjectives come in. 18:26.849 --> 18:28.712 So let's look at the adjectives. 18:28.732 --> 18:36.585 See the samanyagato means one's ethical qualities are the same as one's... 18:38.877 --> 19:06.117 one's fellow residents but let's look at the whole quote so dwells openly and privately possessing in common with his fellow monks virtuous behavior okay so common virtuous behavior ah but there's a key here well because you can ask the question before we even go into it well what about what about thieves you could say okay well sure thieves can get along but 19:07.649 --> 19:12.446 Does that mean that the way to create communal harmony is to break precepts if other people are breaking them? 19:12.807 --> 19:17.102 If everyone else is drinking alcohol, you should, and that's how you create living in ease? 19:19.175 --> 19:19.996 You could argue that. 19:20.617 --> 19:26.563 And so you could argue, as these monks did, that if we're all breaking the precepts, then that leads to communal harmony. 19:27.764 --> 19:28.465 Except it doesn't. 19:29.106 --> 19:29.946 And that's the problem. 19:29.966 --> 19:40.578 One of the big reasons why I started keeping fairly strict precepts is because I saw how certain precepts, when broken, destroy communities. 19:41.078 --> 19:42.820 That's why the Buddha instated them. 19:42.800 --> 19:49.871 There's many precepts that are mainly, not entirely, but mainly for the purpose of cultivating communal harmony. 19:52.295 --> 20:10.343 And so what the Buddha says here is you have common virtuous behavior that is unbroken, flawless, unblemished, unblotched, liberating, praised by the wise, unclinging, and leading to concentration. 20:12.854 --> 20:13.895 It's a tall order, really. 20:15.037 --> 20:19.764 But we can draw something from this, that morality is important. 20:20.304 --> 20:40.212 And if someone is, anyone is engaging in a breach of whatever type of morality that the community is cultivating, and by that I mean the five precepts or the eight precepts or the ten precepts or the many, many monastic precepts, 20:41.980 --> 20:44.183 but at least a basic set of morality, right? 20:45.564 --> 20:48.708 When people start breaking them, communal harmony breaks down. 20:49.689 --> 20:58.079 So obviously, if everyone's stealing from each other, that doesn't create communal harmony, just because you have the same view and grasp of ethics. 20:59.661 --> 21:04.647 Ethical behavior, when everybody keeps it, creates communal harmony. 21:07.630 --> 21:09.012 But it was quite specific here. 21:09.032 --> 21:13.637 It's not just having the same ethical behavior. 21:13.657 --> 21:15.980 It's that everyone has actually behavior that is ethical. 21:18.624 --> 21:20.185 That leads one to dwell at ease. 21:20.646 --> 21:22.448 If you've got a thief, a monk, a thief in your midst. 21:23.169 --> 21:25.933 We had one monk once in a place where I stayed and he was a thief. 21:26.754 --> 21:27.474 He wasn't a monk. 21:28.656 --> 21:29.537 He certainly wasn't. 21:30.833 --> 21:36.961 I mean, honestly, I don't have any proof that he was a thief, but just everyone was saying that he was stealing this, stealing that. 21:36.981 --> 21:37.742 They saw him steal. 21:38.483 --> 21:49.877 So it's all just hearsay to me, but man, he was a kleptomaniac. 21:49.897 --> 21:52.160 And it tore up the community. 21:52.200 --> 21:55.224 Everyone was very angry all the time and worried all the time. 21:56.786 --> 22:00.030 The novice monks, their money just disappeared and that kind of thing. 22:04.988 --> 22:05.549 Not good. 22:06.771 --> 22:07.773 So that's number four. 22:08.595 --> 22:10.699 And number five is the same but with views. 22:12.081 --> 22:17.411 So one has the same views as one's fellow monks. 22:17.512 --> 22:19.676 That's important. 22:19.856 --> 22:23.082 One's fellow meditators say, one's fellow religious people. 22:25.070 --> 22:26.652 But it's also not the case. 22:26.853 --> 22:36.648 If you all have views that there's no benefit in helping others or there's no wrong in hurting others, it's a bad view that's not going to lead to harmony. 22:37.769 --> 22:51.550 If you have the view that there's no harm in clinging and no harm in addiction, then everyone is always striving after their own greedy ambitions, and that doesn't lead to communal harmony. 22:51.530 --> 22:58.678 But right view, having right view, and cultivating right view. 22:58.698 --> 23:01.461 Yes, you have to have views in common with your fellows. 23:02.462 --> 23:12.873 And in a lot of ways that's equally important in regards to simple matters of the approach to the spiritual life. 23:13.414 --> 23:18.499 If everyone, so to take an example from monastic community, if everyone is 23:18.479 --> 23:31.181 practicing certain special practices, like everyone's all decided to only eat from their alms bowl or only eat one meal a day. 23:31.241 --> 23:34.787 These kind of things create communal harmony if everyone does it. 23:34.947 --> 23:43.963 But if someone doesn't, because there are different approaches to the monastic life, and if everyone does it in different ways, you could argue that that's 23:45.226 --> 23:50.351 It may take away from communal harmony. 23:50.532 --> 23:56.618 There's certainly the Ajahn Chah monasteries and the Damayud monasteries, really. 23:58.200 --> 23:59.021 They have this down good. 23:59.081 --> 24:01.363 Every one of their monasteries does it in a similar way. 24:02.204 --> 24:06.489 And every monk in the monastery eats food at the same time in a similar way. 24:06.509 --> 24:09.512 You've got to admit, there's some power to that. 24:10.555 --> 24:11.736 But it's not that important. 24:11.856 --> 24:13.558 I don't really subscribe to that. 24:14.880 --> 24:18.083 I'm generally of the opinion, let everyone do the way they're going to do. 24:18.424 --> 24:20.967 And I think that was common in the Buddhist time as well. 24:21.527 --> 24:23.369 Different monks would practice in different ways. 24:25.772 --> 24:34.802 So I think it's important that we single out the views, that we're clear that everyone has right view, because people with wrong view disturb the community. 24:35.663 --> 24:37.485 It's hard to live in ease when you're with people. 24:38.706 --> 24:40.208 And so the greater point is that 24:41.403 --> 25:00.785 If there are members of the community or people you live with who are not following these five, this is what destroys the community, which makes it uncomfortable and unsuitable to live in that community. 25:02.147 --> 25:04.930 We have cases where the Buddha left, where Arahants would just leave. 25:08.302 --> 25:19.697 People with wrong view, people with unethical behavior, people who are just unfriendly, people who are mean and nasty to live with. 25:21.399 --> 25:28.268 It's not a wholesome place, not conducive to meditation or mental development or goodness in general. 25:30.678 --> 25:31.880 So there you go, these five. 25:32.541 --> 25:33.222 Good to remember. 25:33.903 --> 25:37.348 So good to remember for us that these are things we have to cultivate. 25:38.109 --> 25:44.558 But also good to keep in mind as things that you want to look for in a community. 25:46.120 --> 25:52.790 You want to look at your own living situation and decide whether it's to your benefit to stay or to go. 25:54.653 --> 25:56.596 So there you go. 25:56.616 --> 25:57.597 A little bit of Dhamma. 25:59.703 --> 26:07.613 Now, if you will, if there are any questions, we can do some Q&A. 26:15.883 --> 26:16.764 I don't hear you, Robin. 26:24.013 --> 26:24.975 How's that, Vante? 26:24.995 --> 26:25.255 Better. 26:25.943 --> 26:26.404 Okay. 26:27.125 --> 26:28.267 Hello, Venerable Banpe. 26:28.787 --> 26:32.072 My question is about tenseness in the abdomen during walking. 26:32.974 --> 26:40.946 In walking meditation, I'll notice that the stomach is tense, so I loosen up, and when returning the mind to the walking, the stomach is tense again. 26:40.966 --> 26:44.211 Is tenseness related to clinging to something? 26:45.172 --> 26:49.679 Is there underlying fear that I need to work on, or is there something else that results in the tenseness? 26:50.661 --> 26:53.886 It should be a goal to be as loose as possible in the body as I walk. 26:54.226 --> 26:54.887 Is this right? 26:55.728 --> 26:58.092 I should be releasing tension as I notice it. 26:58.392 --> 26:58.993 Is this right? 26:59.895 --> 27:02.920 Is tenseness something that will cause one to not go very deep? 27:03.581 --> 27:07.948 Should I include the abdomen in my mindfulness as I walk to ensure that it is relaxed? 27:08.489 --> 27:09.250 Thank you, Bhante. 27:10.111 --> 27:10.912 What do you think, Robin? 27:13.336 --> 27:18.204 Well, I mean, you don't have control over whether you're tense or not. 27:18.785 --> 27:19.947 And when you're walking... 27:21.074 --> 27:23.979 the more you shouldn't even try to control the tenseness. 27:24.039 --> 27:24.720 I'd go with that. 27:25.701 --> 27:30.509 Because you can try, and the mind can signal as he's doing. 27:30.549 --> 27:33.093 He actually is able to, to some extent, control. 27:33.193 --> 27:36.478 But I think the point is that's not the way we do things. 27:36.759 --> 27:38.481 So that part I can answer right away. 27:38.541 --> 27:40.204 No, it's not. 27:40.645 --> 27:43.489 And that's an important aspect. 27:43.509 --> 27:44.250 No, it's not. 27:44.811 --> 27:49.258 It's not the goal to be as loose as possible when you walk. 27:50.487 --> 27:51.891 Sorry, I interrupted you. 27:51.931 --> 27:53.414 What else were you going to say? 27:53.435 --> 27:54.497 Oh, no, that's fine. 27:56.222 --> 28:05.425 I was just going to say, during walking, even though there are other things going on, we are trying to kind of stay with the feet. 28:06.181 --> 28:08.545 In this case I would recommend stopping. 28:09.227 --> 28:10.389 Don't do it while you're walking. 28:10.409 --> 28:11.871 So yeah, he's asking that. 28:12.092 --> 28:13.154 Don't do it while you're walking. 28:13.815 --> 28:14.576 Stop walking. 28:15.478 --> 28:18.584 You can say to yourself, stopping, stopping. 28:18.604 --> 28:21.449 And then with your feet together, then focus on the stomach. 28:21.689 --> 28:22.751 But you're not trying to loosen it. 28:22.872 --> 28:24.895 Then you would say to yourself, tense, tense. 28:25.857 --> 28:27.480 You're not trying to loosen it. 28:27.460 --> 28:30.204 Because no, tension isn't indicative of anything. 28:30.224 --> 28:32.187 It doesn't matter where it came from at all. 28:33.048 --> 28:38.296 It's important that you just see it as tension and so that you don't start to question what does it mean? 28:38.396 --> 28:39.117 What could it mean? 28:39.177 --> 28:40.199 What does it signify? 28:40.219 --> 28:41.320 It doesn't signify anything. 28:42.262 --> 28:43.243 It signifies tension. 28:44.445 --> 28:46.368 That's the key to the meditation practice. 28:49.192 --> 28:50.093 See it as it is. 28:55.878 --> 29:01.026 Of course, if you're worried about it or concerned about it, that's something else, and you should not that worried, worried, or concerned. 29:08.118 --> 29:08.899 Hello, Bhante. 29:09.280 --> 29:20.839 On your answers that meditation for beginners should probably not be a comfortable thing, walking meditation seems to be maybe too easy to accomplish as opposed to sitting meditation. 29:21.713 --> 29:39.655 at which i'm still at my diapers any suggestions it's not something that arise as an easiness of accomplishing walking meditation while doing it just that sitting is way harder than walking that might change um 29:42.014 --> 29:46.100 And easy may be sort of all in how you look at it. 29:46.300 --> 29:50.026 So the question is, during walking, is your mind with your foot 100% of the time? 29:50.066 --> 29:56.915 If your mind is not with the foot 100% of the time, then it still needs work. 29:56.935 --> 30:02.183 But the other thing is we have a more detailed walking step, which can help. 30:02.163 --> 30:19.463 stepping right stepping left is pretty basic and there are some traditions that start you off with the third walking step lifting moving placing we don't do that we start you at stepping right stepping left and then as you go through the course we will the teacher will give you a higher walking step 30:19.443 --> 30:49.146 So I've had some people actually decide they're gonna do higher walking steps, which is you know, it's theoretically fine It's just a problem when it comes to me actually trying to lead them through the course the best way is if you can hold off and try and Schedule time to meet with me once a week and and I can give it to you properly And once you get all the steps you can choose which step you want to do Third step fourth step fifth step six step but 30:50.982 --> 30:53.847 Walking meditation is, I think, quite valid. 30:54.568 --> 30:58.635 It's about cultivating clarity of mind. 31:00.178 --> 31:03.003 It's also good for teaching you how to be mindful when you move. 31:06.168 --> 31:10.475 But it changes from day to day, week to week, month to month. 31:11.517 --> 31:14.442 Walking and sitting, sometimes one is easy, the other is difficult. 31:15.524 --> 31:16.686 Sometimes the other way around. 31:17.813 --> 31:18.214 It is. 31:18.254 --> 31:22.863 Sometimes it seems easy, and then the next day you can barely take two steps without stumbling. 31:24.366 --> 31:25.428 It's just the way it is. 31:28.473 --> 31:29.095 Hi, Panthe. 31:29.215 --> 31:37.430 Is it okay to lower your head when watching the rising and falling of the abdomen, or is the head supposed to be even, not in a high or low position? 31:37.711 --> 31:38.252 Thank you. 31:38.637 --> 31:42.001 I mean, you would keep it looking straight ahead. 31:42.822 --> 31:47.327 You wouldn't consciously say, I think it's better to, I want to lower my head and then do that. 31:48.128 --> 31:52.593 But if your head goes down because you're tired, that's fine, that happens. 31:53.374 --> 32:00.122 Usually you'd want to lift it back up when you realize it's a wanting to lift, wanting to raise, raising, raising. 32:01.385 --> 32:03.388 When it goes down again, you can just pick it up. 32:04.229 --> 32:06.892 Sometimes you're so tired that your head just falls. 32:07.413 --> 32:09.035 Sometimes you fall asleep, that kind of thing. 32:09.956 --> 32:21.050 But generally it's better to consciously have your face looking straight with your eyes closed. 32:21.171 --> 32:28.540 But if you're mean, like actually with your head down watching the abdomen, that's a really bad idea because you're not using your eyes to watch, you're using your mind. 32:35.978 --> 32:36.579 That was it. 32:36.799 --> 32:38.060 You guys are too easy on me. 32:38.962 --> 32:39.502 Wow. 32:39.742 --> 32:40.944 And that was after two days. 32:43.207 --> 32:44.008 Disgraceful. 32:45.169 --> 32:45.890 No, that's good. 32:45.910 --> 32:47.191 That means everyone's meditating. 32:47.392 --> 32:48.873 Yes. 32:48.893 --> 32:52.057 Or everyone's given up. 32:52.077 --> 32:53.218 We have lots of meditators. 32:54.120 --> 32:57.283 What's our meditation list look like? 32:57.303 --> 33:01.628 Wow, that's pretty good. 33:01.648 --> 33:03.891 Good list. 33:03.911 --> 33:05.513 Sanka didn't have a question? 33:05.965 --> 33:07.066 Come on, Sanka. 33:07.907 --> 33:08.888 Hey, it's Timo. 33:08.908 --> 33:10.270 No, it's Timo from Germany. 33:11.511 --> 33:24.365 I know a Timo in Canada, but it's not him. 33:24.385 --> 33:24.946 All right, then. 33:26.067 --> 33:26.708 Thanks, everyone. 33:26.728 --> 33:27.869 Thanks, Robin, for your help. 33:28.890 --> 33:30.572 Tomorrow I'm meeting with the 33:32.510 --> 33:40.844 It's got a big acronym, but it's something on campus, some kind of interfaith group to see about working with the chaplaincy office, I think. 33:41.285 --> 33:48.317 I'm not quite sure, but hopefully they'll let us do some chaplaincy work, all the other religions on campus. 33:51.803 --> 33:57.893 And I have a doctor's appointment to find out why I'm burping all the time. 33:59.813 --> 34:00.894 I think I'm just getting old. 34:01.195 --> 34:02.056 I think that's all it is. 34:02.817 --> 34:03.778 My body is saying. 34:09.565 --> 34:10.887 My body is laughing at me. 34:11.888 --> 34:12.889 It's playing tricks on me. 34:14.011 --> 34:14.912 It's breaking down. 34:14.932 --> 34:18.016 My body is like an old cart. 34:19.538 --> 34:23.242 I keep patching it up until finally it just falls apart. 34:26.046 --> 34:27.087 I'm dying. 34:28.433 --> 34:37.630 What do the doctors ever have anything pro or con to say about your practice of not eating after noontime? 34:37.650 --> 34:43.020 I didn't tell him that, and I was just thinking that probably tomorrow I should tell him that I only eat in the morning. 34:43.361 --> 34:47.809 I know he's going to say, you know, you should be eating something in the afternoon. 34:48.633 --> 35:02.541 Because it's a big, apparently ulcers, you can get ulcers if you're not careful with your, I don't know, somebody told me that, some Thai man told me, and a Thai doctor told me monastic diet is wrong. 35:03.331 --> 35:04.312 Well, I don't know. 35:04.352 --> 35:13.645 I mean, actually, Doug, one of our volunteers, had posted a video in our Slack about what's kind of the new thing, intermittent fasting. 35:14.366 --> 35:24.619 And there are similarities to the monastic diet with the sixth precept, because apparently there are some benefits to going long periods of time without eating. 35:25.380 --> 35:32.089 But it would just be interesting to... You probably should mention it to them, though, Pante, because... 35:33.436 --> 35:37.062 Because if what you're experiencing is a digestive problem, they probably should know that, right? 35:39.046 --> 35:45.037 Yeah. 35:45.057 --> 35:46.379 Probably. 35:46.399 --> 35:52.870 So a diet and some French stuff. 35:53.472 --> 35:54.313 I'm learning French. 35:56.656 --> 35:57.777 Oh, a neat thing. 35:57.797 --> 36:09.732 Today I went to, we got this French conversation class and the tutor said he wants, because he was asking what we're interested in that we want to talk about. 36:10.512 --> 36:12.955 And I said, of course, meditation. 36:12.995 --> 36:15.018 And I'm looking to find ways. 36:15.578 --> 36:20.284 I'm learning French for the purpose of being able to teach meditation to French people. 36:20.264 --> 36:27.615 And so today he said, you know, I want you to come in here and try and teach us meditation in French. 36:28.637 --> 36:29.758 And we'll try and work through that. 36:30.580 --> 36:32.222 He's interested in learning meditation. 36:33.244 --> 36:41.496 And the other woman who's also in my class, who's in this conversation class, she's open to it anyway. 36:43.265 --> 36:45.308 That'll be fun. 36:45.328 --> 37:00.008 So I'm going to pull down the French translation of my booklet and try that out. 37:00.028 --> 37:00.569 Okay. 37:00.589 --> 37:01.290 Well, good night, everyone. 37:02.992 --> 37:03.773 Thank you, Bhante. 37:03.833 --> 37:04.314 Good night. 37:04.454 --> 37:05.155 See you again soon.